European Railroad Discussion > French postal cars in the "PTT brune" era

On another forum I commented on the colors of the forthcoming MTH postal car in 1/43.5, which was previewed at a model expo in Paris last month, and earlier today posted some photos to illustrate [ or not ! ] my point. Since I had scanned the slides I thought I would post them on TO, with the hope that other TO'ers can share some photos of the same subject; the roof is of special interest.

1) 20 meter RPO converted to a mail storage car and upgraded with Y24 trucks; Le Mans, 1966.
2) 10 meter RPO, Amiens, '66
3) 17 meter storage, Paris Est environs, '73.
I note that the above three are all K II and sunlit. To be continued.....

SZ

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4) A 20 m RPO at Bordeaux in '73; with original Y2 "Pennsylvania" trucks, though modified w/ rb's, etc, for operation at 140 kph. This photo was taken on Agfa CT18 through a train window on an overcast day in '73.
5-6) Newer [ 1974-80 ] 26.4 m postal storage cars, Paris SE, on Fujichrome 100, 1988.
[ 20, 17, and 10 m lengths are the "PTT length", not overall length ].

With best rgds, SZ

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Thank you for an interesting review of French postal services rolling stock!

140 kph is equivalent approx. to 87 mph

JimBaker Wrote:
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> 140 kph is equivalent approx. to 87 mph

The older vehicles retrofitted with Y24 series trucks, which have both tread and disc brakes, could go up to 160 [ 100 mph ]. The newer 26.4 vehicles were also rated for 160 when built and, to the best of my knowledge, none were upgraded for higher speed.

Best, SZ